I recently purchased a kombat 96 and it came with 2 fins, one freeride, and one wave. I have used the freeride fin and it works really well. My question is about the wave fin. Would you ever use the wave fin in freeride conditions? I know it would be suitable for wave riding, but would you ever use it on flat water? If so, at which sail size would you switch to the wave fin?

If I remember correctly the Kombat 96 came with a Drake Natural Wave 25 and a freeride flow 31. I would say that in 5.3 conditions and below, the 25 will give you better performance. However, the wave fin works best with the straps set inboard (single rear strap). These trims together makes the Kombat almost a totally different board than freeride fin + straps out. Still very fun for maneuver oriented freeride. If you find the wave fin to small and flexy and only want to use the board for more blasting oriented freeride I would look into getting a slightly smaller freeride fin (and maybe sell the wave fin to a wave sailor, its in my opinion the best wave fin that exists).

I have always liked the single rear strap, except when im on a race board (techno 293)

Even if it is a freeride board i like to use the one rear strap mode the most, its safer and more powerful tho the steering isn&#39;t that good and my foot gets tired, (on my board talking about joker now) i dont know why. but it just gets so tired after i do 360 try vulcans duck jibes backwind jibes, but on acid its a whole different story even on flat it feels better than joker!

Agree with Ola above : the Drake wave fin is great for freeriding with a NP NR 5.4 sail in 20-25 knots wind (outboard and back x 4 straps; 65kg). It&#39;s a bit small with a NR 6.2 (a few spinout) and way too small with a Jet 6.9 (lots of spinout).
The 31 cm freeride fin is way too big with 5.4 sail in 20-25 knots for my light weight : board tailwalks. It&#39;s fine with both 6.2 (15-20 knots) & 6.9 (12-18 knots wind) sails, however.

Fultini Hi.
I bought recently (summer 2007) a new K97 model 2007 but it has only one fin ! !
Please send me some infos.
You bought it new or second hand ? The two fins was in the package ?
I have one fin Drake Crossover 28 (in veraman color).
Thanx.

The 07 models only come with one fin. It was decided that despite that the two fins delivered with the 06 boards both were very good, none of them were an ideal fit for the type of sailing most people did with the boards. The wave fin was great in waves and OK for some freeride stuff and the other fin great for pure blasting but a bit big and stiff for more recreational blasting (including jibes and stuff). So, a new fin was developed as a "perfect match" for the Kombat.

If you want to tune the board for pure waves or pure blasting, you can still look for a different fin as an after market item, but I believe most sailors are more happy with the crossover fin and if anything will rather complement with a different size of that type of fin, especially I think very few people prefer the board with the freeride flow fin compared to the Drake Crossover.

So, there is nothing wrong with you boards accessories.

PS. Early version on the 07 Kombats did come with the two fins from 96 since the 07 fin was not yet ready. DS

Hi Ola.
Thanx for your reply. Now the things are more clear.
Any way I am very very very satisfied with Crossover fin ! ! !
I used it yesterday with 6.4 sail and it works fantastic ! !
The truth is that i surprised because it was the first time i used
so big sail, and i was wondering.......
No spin outs, no control over nothing.
So well done to everybody, especially to you guys ! !Spak.

Yeah, the Drake crossovers are really just that. They are used in World cup freestyle in small sizes (22 and even 20 I think) and are subtle enough to handle some B&J wave sailing and will work great also in a freeride setting. I've used the 28 all the way up to 7.0 with a big EVO and a Flare 99. If you want a smaller one, you could go for the 26 or jump all the way down to 24, a bit depending on your sail quiver and the type of sailing you do.